The invention pertains to training aids and devices that provide a restraint between the player's forearm or wrist and the handle of a tennis racket for aiding the player in holding the racket handle at a proper angle with respect to the player's forearm.
One of the most common faults of beginning and amateur tennis players is to let the head of the racket droop with respect to their wrist so that the racket handle becomes essentially aligned with the player's forearm resulting in a weak, sometimes called "wristy" stroke of the ball. The proper way to grip the racket handle is to hold the racket head elevated with respect to the wrist, which may also be described as maintaining a less than 180.degree. angle between the racket handle and the player's forearm. The resulting angulation causes the racket handle, wrist and forearm to act as a somewhat rigidified unit when stroking the ball, thereby affording greater control over the racket, especially during the follow-through after the racket impacts with the ball.
The above mentioned fault of beginning players has been recognized and efforts have been made to provide corrective or training devices for assisting student players in maintaining a proper grip of the racket. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,693,973 such a device is disclosed which includes a bulky cuff member that is strapped to the player's forearm and has rigid, angulated rods protruding from its forward end to a special attachment on the butt end of the racket handle. The device does force the player to maintain a proper angulation of the racket handle relative to the forearm, its' weight, bulkiness and rigidity limit use of the device, for the most part, to nongame training situations, inasmuch as it is impractical or at least very difficult to use during actual practice games and recreational play. If the device were worn during an actual game situation, it would adversely interfere with certain phases of the game, such as the player's service, and yet the device cannot be quickly or easily taken off or put back on. Furthermore, the angle at which the racket is held with respect to the forearm is fixed by the rigid bend in the rods that extend from the forearm cuff, and the angle thus cannot be adjusted for each individual player, nor can it be adjusted during play as may be desired for different game situations or different strokes.
A related tennis aid, illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,881, comprises a cuff worn on the player's forearm and connected to the racket handle by an elastically stretchable cord. The device is primarily intended to relieve the strain on a player's forearm that results in or aggravates a soreness known as "tennis elbow." Incidental to this main purpose, the device is also stated to have the advantage of assisting a beginning player in maintaining a proper angle between the racket handle and the forearm. The cuff or band is adapted to be worn around the player's forearm approximately midway between his wrist and elbow. When worn in this position, the disclosed device is said to be most effective for relieving the so called "tennis elbow." But, to wear the cuff at this location and hold it in place, requires the cuff to be secured tightly around the forearm. The cord which extends between the forearm cuff and the racket handle is made of a very stretchable material, such as the commercially known "Bungee" (a trademark) cord, that can and will stretch whenever a player reverts to a faulty grip and causes the racket head to droop. While the stretchability of the restraining cord may be desirable to achieve the primary purpose of the device, that is to prevent or relieve "tennis elbow". Also, while the disclosed stretchable cord is detachably connected to the cuff by a snap hook, it is evident from the construction and arrangement of the cord and the snap hook that it is not intended, nor is it practical, to disconnect the cord from the cuff and continue play because the cord and hook dangling from the point of attachment on the racket handle will surely interfere with the player's concentration. Thus, to disconnect the device, play must be suspended while the looped end of the cord is removed from the racket handle.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a tennis training aid of the general type characterized above, but which overcomes one or more of the above discussed disadvantages of devices previously proposed for this purpose.
It is a more particular object of the present invention to provide a wrist-to-racket training aid for assisting a player in maintaining the proper angle between the racket handle and his forearm and which is characterized by being extremely lightweight and of such small size that it is neither uncomfortably heavy nor bulky when placed on the wrist and racket handle, and is quickly unfastenable and refastenable without suspending play, and is designed so that is can be unfastened to release a connection between the wrist and racket handle when desired, such as during a player's service, while permitting unencumbered play to continue with one portion of the device retained on the player's wrist and another portion retained on the racket handle, ready for instant refastening when the angulation aid is thereafter needed.
Still another object of the invention is to provide such a wrist-to-racket angulation aid which can be inexpensively manufactured so that the ultimate product can be sold at such a low cost that it will be affordable by amateur and recreational tennis players, and yet be sufficiently durable and long-lasting to withstand the strains of many hours of active tennis play.